Picasa is simply irresistible

When it comes to free photo-editing software, an amateur is spoilt for choice. It seems that big players are competing to bring their solutions into what used to be a very niche field, reserved for enthusiasts. For example, IrfanView, which we often recommended to our sellers for editing the images of items earmarked for sale on our site, is authored by one person.

Being fast, small, compact and innovative, plus available in quite a few languages, IrfanView remains a good choice. Still, at the risk of being accused of colluding to help Google take over the (internet) world, we recently shifted our favours towards Picasa as the free photo editor we recommend to our sellers.

Why?

Well, simply because like most things that (so far) came from the Google workshop, Picasa is simply irresistible.

Wait a minute, you may say (already smelling a conspiracy rat) Picasa has been around for a while, why are we recommending it only now?

Well, because up to fairly recently Picasa was no more than a photo organising software with very basic editing functions. However, Picasa kept getting better and better and has involved into a respectable photo-editing tool. As it is today, Picasa 3 will do wonderfully for any seller faced with the problem of presenting the item destined for sale online.

Picasa 3 lets you crop and straighten the picture and adjust the colour, lightening and contrast. It also allows you to add text, which is good for “copyrighting” the products of your creative endeavours. Picasa 3 also has retouching tools for fixing blemishes. However, sellers are not advised to use those; remember the image of the item you are selling online must be scrupulously accurate!